The last major piece of a planned air-rail system linking Canada’s two biggest transit hubs, Union Station and Pearson International Airport, fell into place Monday as the province vowed to begin construction this spring.

At a news conference inside Mississauga’s Pearson airport, Premier Dalton McGuinty said final contract details were in place for the three-kilometre “spur line” connecting the airport to the Georgetown GO Line, which runs the rest of the way to downtown Toronto.

“Pearson airport is Toronto’s gateway, but it’s more than that — it’s Ontario’s gateway, and indeed Canada’s,” Mr. McGuinty said. “For so many people this is the first impression they get of our province and of our country. Being able to get to the centre of our largest city in a fast, efficient way is part of that very first impression.”

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The spur line and associated terminal would comprise about a third of the estimated $300- to $400-million total cost of the air-rail link, which is expected to be in service by the 2015 Pan Am Games. Once complete, trains would run every 15 minutes and whisk passengers between Union Station and the airport in less than half an hour, stopping along the way at the Bloor and Weston GO stations.

Mr. McGuinty touted the project as a financial boon for the province during fragile economic times — one that would support more than 1,200 jobs and ease congestion by taking about 1.2 million vehicle trips off the road annually.

“When our air-rail link is up and running, it will make the Greater Toronto Area a more attractive place to work, to visit and to invest,” he said, noting Toronto was “catching up” to other major cities on this front.

But the Pearson-Union link has faced criticism over its initial reliance on older diesel train technology, which will be in place before the system switches to electric. It is unclear when that may happen, and the Premier skirted questions Monday on how much the switchover may cost, prompting criticism from New Democratic MPP Jonah Schein (Davenport).

“The deadline around the Pan Am Games may get us an air-rail line, but after that there’s no guarantee that we’re ever going to get it electrified,” Mr. Schein said, calling diesel an outdated and environmentally unfriendly choice.

“The sad thing is they’ve been talking about electrification for decades now,” he noted. “This is the perfect place to go electric, to try it out, to get the ball rolling on that.”

Metrolinx chair Rob Prichard pointed out the line was designed to be convertible to electric down the road, but that could only happen once the larger GO corridors were switched over as well. In the meantime, the trains will run on “clean diesel.”

The system will operate on a full cost recovery basis, Mr. Prichard added, putting riders on the hook for the full cost of the service. Those fares have yet to be set, but would likely be higher than normal GO Transit fees.

Greater Toronto Airports Authority president Lloyd McCoomb said the service will be invaluable, particularly as traffic congestion worsens throughout the GTA.

“The challenge is we are very close to the demographic centre of the Golden Horseshoe, but it’s a problem of reliability,” Mr. McCoomb said. “We’ve got wonderful roads… but rush hour, or traffic problems, and it can be very unreliable.”